Dancing in the Dark
by seasaltmemories
Summary: "Just relax now," He whispered softly, as soothing as a lullaby. "You'll be perfectly fine," Yuzu leaned forward for a kiss, but instead there was a flash of white as her partner went for her neck.
1. Chapter 1

Yuzu knew she was being a bit selfish by pulling her cousin out to a place like this. Serena wasn't much of a social butterfly and claimed the flashing lights were already giving her a headache after five minutes at the club.

Still Yuzu rarely got this chance to get out and have fun, and she owned her. So she just directed her to the bar before heading out onto the dance floor. It didn't take long for her to get swallowed up in the beat. It was second nature to her. Music flowed in her veins. Whenever a song played, it didn't take long for the notes to resonate with her being as her body moved on its own.

She went through a variety of dance partners, each one interesting but eventually boring her. They just couldn't keep up with her energy, and besides she had her eyes set on a different prize.

He was hard to make out, hanging around in the far corner, but from what the quick flashes of light revealed, he was pretty cute. Yuzu was also pretty sure that as she tried to get a look at him, he was trying to get a look at her too, so as the latest song slowed down, she made his way over to him.

"Wanna dance, pretty boy?" She could make out his features better up close, and while he was still good-looking, his eyes were such a vivid red. Whatever contacts he used had to be high quality.

"Me?" He looked shocked by her advances. "I'm not sure I could dance as well as you do."

"Is that a no?" The atmosphere was making her flirty tonight. While she didn't want to pressure someone into doing something they didn't want to do, she still wanted him pretty badly.

"Alright then, let's go!" He took her hand and away they flew. He turned out to be right, he wasn't the best dancer she had partnered with tonight, but he was the only one to match her enthusiasm. With each dance his moves grew faster and wilder, his eyes gazing at her with an almost hunger. She was pretty sure her eyes had that same look, so when he finally invited her to a quieter part of the club, she joined him knowing actually what she was getting in to.

"This is nice," He sighed as they found a deserted hallway. "Those lights were blindingly bright."

"They seemed pretty normal to me," Yuzu shrugged, still that wasn't important now. Slowly she wrapped her arms around him, waiting to see if she would be rebuffed. Luckily he seemed just as eager for her touch as she was.

"Just relax now," He whispered softly, as soothing as a lullaby. "You'll be perfectly fine," Yuzu leaned forward for a kiss, but instead there was a flash of white as her partner went for her neck.

"What the hell?!" She pushed him away to his surprise. "I'm not into that kinky stuff like biting! Seriously you should ask first!" He just stared at her, mouth agape, and _holy shit were those fangs?!_

"I guess I did the hypnosis wrong," He pouted. "I thought I had the right words, but I guess I was missing something else. Sorry for bothering you."

"Hypnosis?!" Yuzu went on red-alert mode. "Just what were you trying to do to me?" Already she found herself ready to send the alert that would contact Serena.

"I thought it was obvious?" He cocked his head to the side like a puppy. "I didn't mean any harm it's just I got turned like a week ago and have been _starving_ ever since and you had such a pretty neck that I kinda go a bit carried away."

"Wait a second?" Yuzu wanted to smack herself for being so dense until now. "You're a vampire? And my neck is pretty?"

He shot her a sheepish grin. "Would I say something as stupid as that if I wasn't? I don't fully understand it myself yet. It's been a weird week for me, so if you could kinda forget about this that would be great. Like I said, super hungry and new to this thing. I'm not quite sure how it's done."

Jesus she almost felt sorry for the guy. The movies and books always portrayed them as suave, seductive ancients, not hungry dorks like these. "This has been a weird night. Can I at least get your name so I can come up with a good excuse for when i get asked about tonight?"

"It's not a problem. I'm Yuya, what about you?"

"Name's Yuzu," Something about that name sounded so familiar. It was eerie. Just then it hit her.

"Wait a second-"

"You're Yuzu Hiragi from elementary school!" He had come to the same conclusion as her. "Wow it's been forever! You've grown up a lot!" She saw the tips of his ears flush slightly. "I guess I didn't recognize you because of the pink hair and the neck thing."

"Oh boy," Who knew that she'd try to make out with her childhood best friend only to learn he was a baby vampire? Ugh, she couldn't just ditch him after all his mom did for her before they left Maiami. "I can't believe I'm doing this."

"You'll let me have a little bite?"

"No," She put a finger to his mouth. "Even if I was comfortable with that, do you even know how to feed without turning someone?"

"Makes sense," Yuya concentrated on anywhere but her face. "What is it then?"

"I'm going to introduce you to my cousin so you don't get any ideas about trying to hypnotizing me again or anything, and then we're going to take you home and try to figure out a way to get you fed."

"Oh my gosh, thank you!" He wrapped her in a bear hug. "Seriously you're the best! Also I didn't know you had a cousin who lived in town?"

"It's a recent development," Yuzu sighed. Tonight was complicated enough without getting into that mess. "Just act naturally and I'll try to explain things to her."

"Alright then, lead the way!"

As she weaved through the crowd with her new vampire buddy in hand, she quickly type out a text for Serena.

 _\- I'm ready to leave, have an old friend that needs a place to crash so he's coming along_

 _\- also do you know if you have any turtlenecks I could borrow_

* * *

 **A.N. Never meant for this to get so long, but I got carried away. Seriously it was so much fun writing this.**


	2. Chapter 2

Thankfully Serena hadn't drunk anything alcoholic, so she could drive the three of them back to their apartment. Yuzu wasn't sure she was calm enough to have done it herself, still reeling from the revelation. She wanted to put off telling everything about Yuya until later, but Serena had been persistent.

"I'm not a fragile flower, Yuzu. I can take whatever craziness you can dish out."

"It's worse than you think it is, plus you're driving."

"I can multi-task! What is he? Some kind of fugitive on the run? A prince in disguise?" She teased

"You know you could try not to talk about me while I'm sitting back here," Yuya sighed from the back seat. "I can hear really well now, you know."

"Hey remember what I said?" Yuzu turned around to face him. "I'll handle things, you just don't act weird." She pinched the bridge of her nose before facing forward once more. "Alright if you want the truth so bad, I'll tell you, but you need to understand that I'm not lying, alright?"

"Sure, sure," She dismissed her warning, more caught up in trying to merge into the other lane. "Lay it on me."

"Yuya's a friend from elementary school, but apparently he's also a vampire."

"You're telling me with how pale that boy is."

"No I mean a real vampire."

"With fangs like this!" Yuya leaned forward, teeth bared, and Yuzu almost screamed.

"Yuya!"

"Woah those are the real deal," Serena took a half a second to peek through her rear-view mirror.

"Why are you not reacting?"

"Uh," Serena shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I mean I already knew vampires existed."

"What the hell?! Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Well, you never asked ok?" She snapped. "Besides I knew I would sound crazy if I told anyone else so I just kept it to myself." She took a second to honk at the person who cut her off. "But yeah while at my last foster home, I met a guy at the nearby high school. He was kinda a creep, and I didn't hang out with him or anything, but I saw him feed off a redhead one afternoon. Instead of being pissed, he seemed to act like we were best friends now that I knew his secret. Come to think of it, your friend reminds me of him. Wonder what that bastard's up to now."

"Maybe he's the one who turned me last week," Yuya rubbed his chin, deep in thought.

"This was off in the sticks. I doubt he ever made it to Maiami."

"You know this might turned out to be helpful," The gears in Yuzu mind were grinding away at full speed. "What do you know about vampires, Serena?"

"Not much," She sighed. "Yuri was the clingy one, and I tried to avoid him so I wouldn't be a meal. He hypnotized me once to do his English paper for him, not fun at all. Like I said he acted like we were BFF's and even suggested turning me if I wanted to. and I said hell no. The way he described it was like 'our bloodlines intermixing,' and something about his blood, 'overwhelming' mine and producing 'a beautiful new creation.'' She shivered at her own words. "Like I said, a total creep."

"You know that's lines up with what happened to me," Red eyes lit up. "I was at a different club across town, and this dude with a blue scarf approached me. We made some small talk and ok I was a bit tipsy. We ended up walking somewhere together, maybe the bathroom or I don't know, and then suddenly he said what I said to Yuzu. 'Just relax now. You'll be perfectly fine,' Then boom I'm lying on the ground with a blood on my neck and a craving for something I can't place."

"When I saw Yuri feed, he didn't leave behind much evidence. There were just two bumps on the side of the redhead's neck. They looked pretty innocent, like a bug bite or maybe a hickey."

"So this guy intend to turn you?" Yuzu was getting more confused by the second. She couldn't think of any reason a stranger would turn him besides sadistic pleasure.

"I don't know," Yuya shrugged. "Maybe he was just messy or something."

"I guess that's an explanation," It was the one she wanted to accept. If there was someone out to get Yuya then she was a likely target now that she had started associating with him. "Serena, do you think there are alternates to human blood for vampires?"

"Not likely," She shook her head. "I mean if that was the case, they'd probably use it more often then risk being seen feeding."

"I tried tomato juice at first," Yuya sighed. "I thought that's what my craving was at first, but it didn't help at all."

"Wait a sec!" A smirk spread across Serena's face. "You know I don't want you feeding off of me, but if you waited a few days, me and Yuzu could get all you the blood you want."

If Serena hadn't been driving Yuzu would have smacked her across the face. "What the actual fuck! We are not going there, no way!"

"I'm being practical! The blood would go to a better use in him than staining my sheets!"

"Uh guys?" Yuya looked to be even paler than usual. "I appreciate the thought, but can we please not continue this conversation? I really don't want to know what my decision would be on that."

"Why are we even having this discussion," Yuzu wanted to claw her eyes out she was so frustrated. "I can't believe we forgot that Ruri's worked at a bunch of blood drives and stuff. She probably has something we can use to draw blood without get fangs involved."

"You're my hero, Yuzu," He leaned forward and kissed her cheek.

It was a sweet gesture she didn't expect to get from a creature of the night, yet it made her skin crawl. "Uh, can we try to be careful about this sort of stuff? If vampirism is caused from contacting someone's blood, it might be exchanged through other bodily fluids."

"Ah, I didn't think of that!" A look of terror crossed his face. He scrambled frantically through the back seat pocket. "Get some napkins or something for her!"

"Don't worry, blood boy," Serena seemed oddly pleased with her little nickname. "We've reached home," She pulled into an apartment complex named Tranquil Park. "We're in 2F, come on it's late." It was a few minutes later the trio entered the gals' place. While it was on the small side, Yuzu was sure Yuya had likely seen worse.

"We'll give you a moment while we let you get settled on the couch," Serena threw her keys on the counter. "Come on Yuzu, let's contact Ruri about the equipment." Before she could her response, Serena had already pulled her into their bedroom. "Ok, I know vampires have enhanced hearing, but this should be good," Despite her words, green eyes continued to dart back and forth, as if expecting him to come crawling out the woodwork. "Your little friend mentioned trying to hypnotize you, and I didn't miss that little cheek kiss. Are you sure we can trust him?"

Yuzu let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Oh it was just her cousin being protective as usual. It was her nature to defend those she loved. "Of course, we go way back. I swear Dad has pictures of us running around butt naked together as babies."

"Yet, he still tried to seduce and attack you."

"About that," She could feel her cheeks heat up at the mere memory. "I was kinda the one doing the seducing. He was cute ok, and so I thought we were going to do something else when he took me to a quiet area. The second I saw teeth though I backed out."

It was strange seeing Serena with such a wide grin. It wasn't long before she was howling with laughter, only standing because she used Yuzu for support. "Let me get this straight, you almost died because you wanted to _bone_ his scrawny ass?! This is why we aces are the ones who would survive a horror movie!"

"Whatever," Yuzu groaned, barely resisting the urge to strangle her. "Does that ease your worries, Mother?"

'I guess so," She managed to pull herself together, returning to her usual stony-faced expression. "Still I hope you know what you've pulled us into."

"I'm just trying to get him back on his feet again. Like I said, we were close, and before her deadbeat husband ran out on them, his mom had practically adopted me. Dad is great, but it was nice having a woman figure in my life. I owe it to the Sakaki's to lend a hand."

"If that's the case, then I won't stop you," Serena sighed. "Get the blood boy tucked in while I pay our dear old cousin a call." That was the closest she'd ever get from approval from her, so not bad. Yuzu stepped out, finally relaxing for the night, only to find Yuya standing in a corner staring in her direction with glowing red eyes. She was at the end of her rope, and this time she didn't even try to stifle her screams.

"What?" Yuya broke out of the trance, an apologetic look already painting his features. "I'm so sorry, Yuzu. It's just I didn't know what to do, and that's as close as I can get to sleeping nowadays."

"It's fine, Yuya," She forced a smile on her face, barely hiding her frustration. Dad didn't raise her to be rude to guests. "But maybe it would be better to do that facing away from people? And why the corner?"

"It just feels nice. Again, vampire thing, can't explain. You know if you're ok with it, I could watch TV instead. Ya'll have Netflix?"

"Sure, sure," Yuzu pinched the bridge of her nose. God she was ok with anything if it meant she could get some sleep soon. "Our account is already logged in and everything. Is that all you'll need?"

"Oh yeah, I'm low-maintenance," He waved away any linger concerns. "Just want to tell you thanks again. This week has been pretty scary, in a big city I haven't visited in years, waking up with some weird disease, learning I'm a freaking _vampire_ of all things? It's nice having a familiar face back in my life."

"It really was nice seeing you again minus this mess," Yuzu confessed. She hadn't been the only one to grow up, and besides she enjoyed the memory of those days.

It could have been a nice moment between them, but then suddenly his stomach started growling.

"That's it, I've had it up to here!" She covered her throat as much as she could. "I'm never letting you seeing my 'pretty' neck again!"

"Oh, come on, I wasn't even looking at it! _Yuzu~_ "

Ruri couldn't come with her equipment fast enough.

* * *

 **A.N. Don't get used to this bc it won't be a regular thing, it's not multi-chap material, but it might be fun to visit this a few times like I said. Serena was a fun dynamic to add in though and now some ground rules for vampirism have been layed out**


	3. Chapter 3

Sunday mornings have this sort of dreamy quality to them that separated them from other mornings. By then the weekend had eased itself into you, already breaking up your usual schedule. Waking up, you were always unsure of if last night had really happened or not.

It's why Yuzu got up in her half-awake state and flung open the curtains without thinking hard about the consequences.

"Ow! Hot! Hot! Hot!" Yuzu almost jumped out of her skin at the sudden shouting and began to scream herself. When she finally remembered what happened last night, she began screaming even more as she rushed to close the curtains back up. It wasn't until they were back in relative darkness did they finally calm down a bit.

"Oh my God," Yuzu huffed as she tried to catch her breath. "I almost killed my guest!"

"Don't worry, no harm no foul!" Yuya gave a sheepish laugh. "I mean let's look on the bright side-or maybe look at the big picture. Only undead at the moment!"

"You look like a boiled lobster."

"Ah, it will fade pretty quickly. I don't think sunlight kills me, just kinda makes me dizzy."

"Have you tested this before?" Yuzu moved to sit next to him. The gears in her head were already cranking away at what this could mean.

"I mean it was just last Saturday I turned. Last week I thought I was still normal if a bit sleep-deprived. Then I step outside and boom, craziest sunburn and headache combination I've ever gotten. I knew I had to get better for the audition the next day so-" He suddenly stopped at that, red eyes filled with an emotion she couldn't quite place. "Anyway, so yeah you won't be killing me, no worries!" He gave a bright smile, but it was forced at the edges.

"Yuya," Instinctively Yuzu took his hand, "Why did you come back to Maimi again?"

"There was auditions for this tv show I was really interested in being on. I've been into acting since forever you know?" He shrugged. "Anyway Mom had even been able to pull in a favor with that Nico Smiley guy, so I had a good chance of getting a little background role. Wouldn't be my break-out role but it might have put me on the map at least."

"That really sucks," Yuzu blew a strand of hair out of her face. "Sorry that I don't know what else to say but that."

"You weren't the one to turn me into a vampire. There's no need to apologize."

With a good night's rest out of the way, Yuzu felt a lot more sympathetic to what Yuya had gone through. Still as she glanced at the time, she knew she had to get going any minute now.

"Did you see Serena pass by?"

"Yeah, almost mistook her for you, but you would never go out running."

"True. My shift will start soon though, so will you be find for a while on your own."

"Oh sure. I'll just go back to binge-watching Stranger Things. It's been a lot of fun."

"Cool," Yuzu half listened as she pulled herself together. This might be a bad idea, taking in a vampire wasn't a plot she'd seen in movies. The three of them were all going at this blindly. Still even outside of duty to Yoko, now she at least wanted to help a friend.

* * *

Yuzu came back from work, sore and tired only to find Ruri waiting outside their door.

"Hey! Nice seeing you again!" Ruri gave a friendly if a bit detached greeting. Yuzu couldn't hold it against her though. She might be family, but they had really known each others existence for about a year.

"You look great! How's med-school going?"

"It's going alright if you ignore the bags under my eyes," Ruri shrugged. "You're working on your MBA aren't you? How's that?"

"Could be better, could be worse. Do you have the equipment?" Yuzu tried to keep a straight face. She wasn't sure what Serena had told her. It was a bit suspicious, but hopefully vague blood-ties would could through.

"Mmhm, can I come in and set it up for you?"

"Oh what have I been thinking? Of course!" Yuzu internally cursed as she prayed that Yuya wasn't still sprawled out binge-watching or doing some other weird vampire thing. Thankfully when she opened the door, Yuya was nowhere to be seen.

Ruri placed her bag down on the counter pulled out a strange machine and a surprising amount of needles. "Now as a nurse in training, I have to give the spiel about not doing this on your own, but I might as well show you the full procedure." She went through the details on how to find an vein and draw blood.

"Now if you want to draw more than usual, this is where this bad boy comes in," She brought Yuzu the weird machine from before. "This part works the same as a needle. You connect it to the blood bag, here, and the machine rocks it back and forth to keep from clotting. Once it reaches the imputed weight, which is usually 1 pint or around 400 grams, it stops. The process on average takes fifteen minutes as long as everything goes right."

"Wow you sure know your stuff!" Yuzu's head was still trying to digest everything she had said.

"I couldn't be where I am if I didn't," Ruri smiled. "Still Yuzu I have one question,"

"Go ahead and shoot."

"Why do you need to know this?"

Yuzu froze. Damn it Serena. Couldn't see have been the one to try to come up with the realistic excuse?

"Well you see, I have a friend in town, and he's audition for a role in tv show as a nurse."

"Oh, and so he wants to be as accurate as possible even though its fiction?"

"That's right!"

"Then why isn't he here?"

Yuzu couldn't hold back her frown this time around. She really shouldn't have fallen for such an easy trap, and yet here she was all the same.

"He's been sick. I thought I might as well relay the information one he gets better."

"I see," Ruri clasped her hands together. "Well I'll leave you with this for a few days. When he gets better, you can show him the motions again. I'm a busy bird, so I'll take my leave," She collected her belongings together. "And by the way, your place smells different than when I was last here."

"Serena and I haven't done anything. Maybe it's that lack of sleep getting to you," Yuzu glared, hoping her hint to leave wasn't too subtle for her.

"Alright, I hope I was helpful. See you later Coz." After she left, it still took a few minutes until Yuzu remembered to breathe. Jesus, she was more like her brother than she initially thought.

"Yuya? Ruri's gone, you can come out now." His disappearance only then hit her as she tried to find him. "Yuuuuuuuyaaaaaa," God it felt like searching for a cat. It wasn't until she got desperate enough to check her closet did she find him staring at her with those glowing red eyes from last night.

"You know what? I wasn't even surprised by that. I'm that used to you."

"Yuzu?" He broke out of the trance. "Oh sorry if this seems creepy. I heard someone knock on the door, and I didn't know what to do, so I tried to find a place no one but you would look and then I just instinctively fell into that glowing stare thing."

"Look that's the least important thing right now." Yuzu pinched the bridge of her nose. "We got the blood equipment thing."

"The blood equipment thing?"

"Ugh, just come in the kitchen and I'll show you!"

* * *

"So you're the European kind," Shun had already sensed him before the vampire spoke, yet the hairs on the end of his back stood up at the sound of his voice. "No wonder my forces had been having so much trouble with your pack."

"We don't take kindly to people infringing on our turf," Shun cracked an eye open to study the vampire. Lanky and looked no older than his early twenties, but his entire aura reeked of danger. He would not let his guard down.

"I can't deal with werewolves on top of everything else, though," The vampire drew closer.

"You say that like I actually care. I made my stance. Get out of Maimi and we won't bother you," Shun's instincts were roaring to fight, but he had to keep cool for once.

"I guess we're at a stalemate," The vampire backed down, adjusting his glasses, "Still I wonder how you'll deal with things if something happened to one of your pack-mates."

Golden eyes burned with anger. Just what was he implying?

But before he could do anything, he was gone.


End file.
